To the OP: Sorry, I felt a need to reply to that because it irritated me as a stereotype I see posted here over and over again. But to stay on topic, I posted a thread about this just over a month ago. You might like to read it, I think it had a lot of funny and also heartfelt responses:
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=20072.0I was told there was another similar thread a while ago, and you can read that thread from the post inside the thread above which references it and gives the link. I didn't finish reading it all yet, but just from the ones I read, it seems like more good reading.
On a serious note, if you think you have an actual problem that is causing financial and other issues in your life, you might want to see out a counselor or addiction specialist. This is pretty similar to problems with gambling (who really knows if these plants will produce a lot of good fruit, anyway?), and to other addictions, not to mention sometimes OCD and obsessiveness, depending on the person. If you're really going broke, or having emotional problems over the fruit, you're also at some point going to have to stop visiting this forum - there is no doubt that the vast majority of people buy a hell of a lot more fruit plants after reading here than they did before, because you are always being tempted with something new every day. For most people, I think this is just part of the fun and references to obsession are made in jest. But at a certain point, it stops being funny for a few people and becomes a real problem they can't seem to stop from taking over their lives, to the point that it causes serious financial and social problems. So in case you are being serious in this thread that you're concerned, you might need to do something about it. One can easily spend thousands of dollars on tropical fruit (or hundreds of thousands, if like some of us you move to make growing it easier), and that's all good except when you don't HAVE thousands to spend. People get hung up on all kinds of things, and tropical fruit is not really the weirdest of addictions to have. It feels so rewarding - up until it's not.
So for most of us, I think creating boundaries and sticking to them no matter what is what works. Only spend what you have in cash. Don't go over your monthly fruit budget. Don't buy more things if you can't take care of the ones you have already. I have also found that sticking to growing seeds makes the collateral damage a lot less, if things don't work out. It's still challenging, and you can get a lot of rare stuff, but if they die you're not out nearly as much money. So I do seeds for plants I care less about, and invest the money in full-size plants only for my few favorites that I really "need" fruit from right away. Delayed gratification is an important concept to learn when growing fruit - you have to wait for the harvest, you can't buy the work away. Stave off the desire to have fresh fruit immediately by growing a few plants that fruit in their first year, while you tend to the others that will need time to grow. That way at least every year, you'll get SOMETHING, even if it's a small something. It makes it easier to spend less on full-size plants, and on space to put them all. Vertical gardens also help a lot with the space thing, and with water consumption - but again, don't spend more than you have. Definitely consider focusing on plants that grow well in your area with minimal care, which cuts way down on cost and on time investment, so you can still have a life outside of fruit.
Topic: i have an addiction to online ordering of tropical fruit trees (Read 7803 times)